Abstract:

To explore the effect of casein co-peptide on the communication networks among human cytokines, young volunteers recruited orally took three different doses of casein co-peptide after breakfast and lunch each once, and blood was harvested at 3 h after the last administration and changes in the levels of 32 serum cytokines were assayed with Millipore Human Kit or liquid chip scanner. There were 9 serum cytokines exhibiting a significant decrease due to casein co-peptide administration at different doses. Information retrieval was carried out for these cytokines, and based on the data from cells synthesize and secrete these cytokines and their target cells, human intracellular communication networks responding to different doses of casein co-peptide were constructed and compared. The comparative results reveal that casein co-peptide has immune down-regulatory effect. Meanwhile, the signaling pathways of casein co-peptide might involve NF-κB, JNK, JAK/STAT, P38/MAPK and PI-3K/AKT. Different cytokines were changed obviously due to different doses of casein co-peptide, and different intracellular communication patterns were also observed, indicating that the immune regulatory effect of casein co-peptide is in an obvious dose-dependant fashion.

Key words: casein, cytokine, intracellular communication network